Hearing a faint thudding echo through the gate, Iihito wondered if the bounded field was good for anything. Busy focusing on the potatoes, she heard the thudding once more.
Turning his head towards Iihito, Shirou tilted his head. “Iihito, could you get the door for me? I can’t leave the pot right now.”
Before she could respond, Saber, her apparent mother figure, grabbed her hand, forcing her to drop the tools onto the cutting board. “Come, little one. It’s best not to keep guests waiting. Slothfulness is the enemy.” Feeling the tug of Saber pulling towards the gate, Iihito grimaced, casting her eyes away from Saber. “You grew up in a destitute manner. Parental guidance is still required for you.”
At the table waiting for food, Aiko was lazing about with her fluffy ears and tail on full display. Perking her ears towards the two, Aiko gave them a curious look. "You need help Iihito?"
“Nah it’s fine. I just need to get the door. I haven't been as involved as you yet. Least I could do is grab the door, right Mom.” Iihito responded.
“Mo-” Saber shook her head before looking back towards Iihito. ”No you are indeed correct, little one.”
Opening up the gate, Iihito observed a magenta-headed woman in a yukata.
“So what’s u-” Before Iihito could finish her sentence she felt a sharp pain on her arm. Turning towards the source of the pain was her mother’s hand.
“Do not forget your mannerisms, young one. Greet your guests formally...”
A faint voice echoed in towards the three from inside. The voice belonging to a certain sacred gear wielder. "WHAT?! She's King Arthur? Doesn't that make her really old?"
Staring at the two with an awkward smile, Bazett seemed a bit unsure of herself. "Did I come at a bad time?"
Saber rested her eyes, pretending to not hear Issei’s comment. Iihito decided it’s better to interject then to let the awkwardness continue. “No, we’re always like this. So, what could I help you with tonight miss...”
"You can call me Bazett. I was told by a man named Raynell to look for an Iihito and an Aiko to help solve my current problem. Are they currently available?"
Internally, Iihito raised a brow, making sure Bazett didn't see her expression. “I mean, yeah. I’m just preparing some dinner. Wanna jo- Sorry, do you wish to join us? It’ll be rude to not invite guests over.”
Bazett realized the empty pit in her stomach growling. "Alright. If you don't mind, I'll join you. A meal sounds great right about now, and conversation is usually more pleasant with food."
“Right, come in. The dining room should be to the left of the entrance.” Pointing towards the dining room, she left Bazett to finish up preparing dinner.
Following her directions, Bazett walked into the dining room, her eyes widening when she saw Kiritsugu taking a seat at the table. "Wait. Emiya? You live here?"
Resting his eyes, Kiritsugu nodded. “Indeed, this is my residence.”
"Huh, if you're here, then…" She scanned the room. Noticing not only who she believed to be the main culprit of all her work in Germany, but also the Einzbern heiress with her maids. She began to feel a faint, uncomfortable pulsing in her head. "You guys caused me a lot of work in Germany. Wait. Never mind. That's not what I'm here for. We can talk about that later."
Scrunching his face in confusion, Issei decided now would be a good time to speak up. "Germany? Did something happen in Germany?"
Morphing her voice to sound just like Tamamo-no-mae, Aiko smirked. "Yes. I almost soloed the German army. Lol, just kidding~!"
“She’s not kidding. She actually did drive off the Bundeswehr almost single-handedly.” Iilya said without any expression.
Surprised, Issei didn't know how to take the information that Aiko was technically a mass murderer and was sitting right beside him making jokes about it. "Ehhh!? Seriously? That's crazy."
[[It makes sense, she is a beast of humanity after all. They could very easily end humanity in moments if they really wanted to.]]
Bazett turned to look at the beast girl with her deceiving foxy appearance and paled. She wondered which number she was, because depending on the number, this may be the equivalent of finding out your neighbor has a nuke large enough to end the world hidden in their basement with a broken countdown timer.
Entering the room, Iihito and Shirou placed the entrees on the dinner table. “Ah, Issei. Bazett. Feel free to dig in, I could make Reynel’s portion when he comes back.”
Upon taking the first bite, Issei smiled and began to shovel the food down his throat. "Ish reary gud," he said around a mouthful of food.
Looking at him as if he was strange, Bazett took her first bite. The moment the food touched her tongue, flavor exploded out from it in an incredible burst of tasty juices. She had to restrain herself from making a fool of herself there.
By the time she knew it, she was already done, and her plate was empty. Looking up at the rest of the people, she saw that they had also finished. "Thank you for the meal, it was wonderful."
“Eh? Are you done already? We haven’t reached the main course yet.” Illya tilted her head towards Bazett.
“That was the entree Miss Bazett.” Saber said before observing her master and her daughter figure heading towards the table once again to place the main course. “A snack to have before the main meal.”
Feeling slightly confused but eager to try more good food, Bazett nodded her head. "Alright. If the appetizer was any indication, I'm sure it will be quite delicious as well."
Dishing up a plate of the food, she began to eat with a slight smile on her face. She was more used to eating in bars when she had to, or at home in Ireland, so it was her first time trying proper traditional Japanese cuisine. When she was finished, she turned to Iihito. "This was great. Thank you. I'm glad you invited me in."
Placing desert on the table, Iihito looked back towards the enforcer. “So you mentioned you wanted to meet with me and Aiko?”
Bazett pushed her plate back and folded her hands with a frown. Her eyes flicked over to Aiko's twitching ears, and overly fluffy tail. "Yes. I was told the two of you might be able to help with my current problem. Though, considering one of you is a beast of humanity, I am a bit worried about what it would cost me."
Iihito Turned towards Aiko. “So Aiko, how much would you charge Bazett?”
Shrugging, Aiko's face made it clear she was going to do it regardless, but that she'd appreciate a reward. "I want a cool suit with runes in it, and a bit of cash to go towards more food for here. What will you charge her? She's only an enforcer so maybe not something too crazy."
“Mostly having Bazett tell Rias that there is a grail war about to happen.” Turning back to Bazett, Iihito shrugged. “So, does that answer your question?”
"Yes. I can arrange for that as soon as we're done. I'll just have to borrow a phone since mine was crushed by Kirei Kotomine." She then decided to get to the point. "I was attacked by him earlier, and he stole my servant, Lancer, along with my arm. Luckily, your friend Raynell healed it perfectly, so I will be more than combat capable as soon as I collect one of my suits and the rest of my tools from the hotel."
Crossing her arms, Iihito nodded. “Ah, him. The suffering fetish guy. Any way you know to actually get him back?”
"Just ask Archer," Aiko interjected. "He can bullshit his way into using Rulebreaker for this shit. Easy. Just break the contract and have her take it over. Literally five minutes in and out."
“Don’t we also have to deal with Gil? He has future vision clairvoyance so he’ll likely see us coming. Better wait for Raynell too.”
"Gil? As in Gilgamesh?" Bazett squawked, very much aware of how bullshit that Servant was in the last war.
Ignoring Bazett and nodding her head at Iihito to indicate that it was a solid plan, Aiko made sure to note one specific detail. "We'd have to wait for Rin anyway, She's the master of Archer."
“Welp, sorry Bazett. I don’t think we’d be able to take your servant back just yet. Defeating him, we can do. Taking him back? Well, we just don’t have the right tools.” Iihito shrugged.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we could take him back sooner?” Shirou interjected. “Even if it’s just a day, I wouldn’t want to extend someone’s suffering.”
Iihito shook her head. “I hate it too, Shirou, but if we were to go now all we would be doing is either getting us potentially killed or getting Lancer killed. We can’t take him back quite yet.”
Giving Shirou a fanged smirk that would make any furry squee in delight, the light in Aiko's eyes danced with amusement. "That's right Shirou. And we all know that 'People die when they are killed' eh?"
Shirou blinked, before turning back to Iihito. “That’s... Fair...”
On one hand, Issei was still willing to help. On the other hand, he was really out of his depth. "I don't even know what's going on here. Can someone please explain it to me?"
Iihito turned towards Issei. “Oh sure, what questions do you have?”
"Can you start from the beginning? I don't even know what to ask!" Issei exclaimed.
Iihito shrugged, widening her mouth and scratching the top of her head. “Maybe it’ll be easier if Rin... Actual hold on, Bazett. Can you give him a rundown? He’s a fresh magus who didn’t even know about the magus world until just today.”
Getting up from where she sat, she walked over to Issei, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah. I can give him the talk. No problem. Got a spare quiet room I could use for the conversation? Might take a while."
Nodding, Iihito stood from the table. “You can borrow one of the guest rooms. Any drinks or snacks you want while you have the talk?”
It was clear that Issei was clueless about what they were talking about. "The Talk? But I already know about sex. I just ate though, so I'm a bit full for snacks."
“Young one, you must remember we are in Japan. The people here cannot eat as much as we do.” Saber interjected.
Finishing off Bazett's untouched dessert, Aiko perked up. "I can haz snacks?"
“Sure, corn chips with salsa sound good for you two?” Leaving the room Iihito headed towards the kitchen to grab the chips and sauce. “Any other sauces you two prefer?”
Aiko nodded with a bright smile. "Got any sour cream?"
“Sure, what about you, Mom?” Iihito’s voice echoed back.
Saber paused, tilting her head. “Do you have any spices for this... Corn chip?”
Barking out a sharp laugh, Aiko began to chuckle in mirth. "Ha! Iihito! Give her some Wasabi!"
“Spicy Kewpie Mayo, gotcha. You also want melted cheese on it?”
"Yay! Nachos! Yes please~!" Aiko exclaimed, Tail wagging at the mention of the stereotypical Mexican food.
“Yes, that would do splendidly.” Saber nodded, noticing Iihito re-entering the room. Placing the snacks on the table.
“Oh, and Issei. We meant magic, the rundown of what we were talking about the entire time. A brief history so you don’t end up lost next time we talk about hocus pocus.” Iihito waved her hand in front of her, dancing her fingers before she rested her arms.
Deflating like a rubber ball with a slow leak, Issei hung his head in shame. "Oh."
Reaching out to pat Issei on the head, Iihito smiled. “Don’t feel bad, you’ll get used to it. We all had to start off with an info dump when we first started learning magic.”
Kiritsugu nodded in agreement.
A thoughtful frown crossed Issei's face. "Huh. Okay." He then allowed himself to be dragged off to the guest room for a discussion.
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